Floor waxer and polisher



J. W. WILLIS FLOOR WAXER AN POLISHER Filed Nov. 21. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 J. W. WILLIS FLOOR wAXER AND POLISHBR Filed No1/.'21, 192s 2 shears-snee, 2

Patented Oct. 7, 1924.

UNITED STATES JAMES WILLIAM WILLIS, OF TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA.

FLOOR WAXER AND POLISHER.

Application filed November 21, 1923. Serial No. 676,077.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JAMES WILLIAM WILLIS, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and resident of the city of Toronto, in the county of York, in the Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Floor `Waxers and Polishers, of which the following is the specification.

My invention relates to improvements in iioor waxers and polishers, and the ob] ect of the invention is to devise a simple, light, durable device whereby wax may be evenly7 distributed upon a floor surface and evenly polished even though the floor boardsmay be more or less warped, and it consists essentially of the arrangement and construction of parts as hereinafter more particularly explained.

Fig. 1 isa perspective view of my device as used for distributing the wax upon a floor surface. l

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through Fig. 1 taken from the front to the `back of the device. i

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view through the wax reservoir.

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view through Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a similar view to Fig. 3, with the polishing means inserted in position, and the wax container removed.

Fig. 6 is va cross sectional view through Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of thepolisling member removed from my device.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged perspective Vdetail of a portion of my polishing member, showing the means whereby the polishing brushes are locked in position within their container.

In the drawings like characters of refer-1 ence indicate correspondingparts in each ligure.

1 and 2 are cross boards or plates'secured together at their ends by brackets 3 vand-4,

so as to space them apart and form a cross-v wise extending opening 5. The cross boards 1 and 2, and brackets 3 and 4, form the body of my device.

6 and 7 are bale members pivotally secured at 8 to each of the brackets 3 and 4, the inner ends of such members being upturned v at 6c and 7". Y f

Between the upturned ends 6 and xis secured a handle 9 by cross bolts 10.

11 and'12 are cross slots'formed by the depending portions 12X and 12", and in which is inserted edgewise a strip of thick felt, 13, so as to protrude at its lower edge therefrom to contact with the surface of the floor and form wax spreading means.

The board or plate members 1 and 2 extend vbetween the brackets 3 and 4, such brackets being provided with lugs 3X and 4X extending over the members 1 and 2, and to which such members are secured by the screws 16.` The outer edges of the board or plate members l and 2 are provided with strips of felt, 17, to form buffers so as to prevent the scratchingor marking of furniture or skirt board'witlr which my device may come in contact during operation.

In the intervening orifice 5 located between the members l and 2 I have placed my wax container, the construction of which I will now describe.

l18 is a rectangular receptacle, the bottom portion 0f which converges as indicated at 19, so as to depend through the orifice 5.

2O are lugs which rest upon the upper face of'each member 1 and2 at each end of the opening 5 so as to support the wax container in the aforesaid position. rThe bottom of the container 18 is provided with a longitudinal slot 21.

22 and23 are openings formed in the end walls18x'and 180of the container at each end of the slotted opening 21.

24 is a covering plate secured by screws 25 to the lower face of the lcontainer 18, the lower face of the converging portion 19 being surfaced off for the reception of the covering plate 24.

26 are perforat-ions formed in the covering plate 24 and extending longitudinally beneath the slotted opening 21, as clearly indicated in Fig. 8.

27 is a bar extending at its ends into the openings 22 and 23 and slidable upon the coveringplate 24. The bar 27 when carried to a projecting position at the opposite end of the wax container 18, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 8, forms a closure for the perforationk26. When the bar is pushed in the opposite direction, that is from right to left, the perforations 28 are carried into a registering position with the perforations 26 so as to permit the wax feeding downward through the line of perforations on to the door to be polished.

29 is a cover for the container.

30 are spring fingers located at each end of the containerbent at their.upper ends in V forni as indicated at 3l, the distance between the apeX portion of each V portion 3l being less than the length of the cover 2S), therefore, when the cover `29 is forced into its covering position it springs the fingers 30 outward so that the ends ofthe cover pass the V portions and engage beneath the same when in thecovering position.

32 is a flange extending from the covering plate fitting lwithin the open topof the container 18 so asto hold the `platein position.

ln waxing theloor, my device is used as abovedescribed, the perforations 28and 26 being moved into a position so that the wax feedsdown on to the floor y to be polished. The .felt strips 13 bearing upon the floor at their lower edge spreadsthe wax over ,the surface of the floor, thereby covering the floor with a thin film of wax. The floor is then left forthel required length of time beforeY being polished.

l/Vhen the floor is ready `for polishing, I use my device with the polishingmembers which I vvillnoW describe.

`When my. deviceisadapted for polishing the floor, the wax container 18 is lifted out of its position and theV polishing member which .l will no W describe inserted beneath the board or plate members l ,and 2 between the brackets 3and 4, being-.held in position by the depending portions 12X and 12.

33 is a vcasing which is rectangular in yform and fitting betweenthe brackets 3 and 4 and depending portions lQXpand 12. The open face of the casing depends downward. )ne end edge of the casing 33 is-*turnedinward, yas indicated .at 34. The other end edge is provided with an inturned portion forming a groove 35.

36 are a series of cross .wallsextending crosswise of the casing, dividing the f casing into a series of transverse compartments.

3'7'are bristle brushes provided with bacle ing pieces y38 which fit the transverse compartments formed by the walls 36, one end edge of the backing piece 38 extending over the inturned flange 34, the opposite end edge extending adjacent to the inturned portion 35.

Z39is an angular strip, one flange of which is slidable longitudinally within the groove the other flange extending horizontally out vard from the groove so as toeXtend beneath the adjacent end edge ofthe lbrush backing 38 and thereby support the brush within the compartment ofthe casing 32.

40 are pressure springs bearing against the backing pieces 38of eachibr-ush 37.

4l are the bristles of the brush 37 which engage the surface of the iioor for the purpose of polishing it, as hereafter described.

ln order to secure the casing 33 inthe position above described I have provided the following securing means.

42is aiblock ksecuredfto theiupper wall of the casing 32, such block being located in the orifice 5.

.'431is a spring-strip p-ivotally secured to the block 42 by a screw 44 and which When swung transversely of the orifice, engages the edges oftheopening 5 formed by the inner edges of the members l and 2.

45 is a weight formed of ,suitable .ma terial. llheweight 45 isprovidedondtsiniderface at each side tof itsl centre with spaced apart ribs 46 `V`and ,47 adapted Ato at each side of ftheblock42. iBythismeans the Serine' Strip .is yheld in position @rinswise ofthe l opening tand Y'locked in Asuch position so that itilcannot slip ont ofengagement with the side edges of theopening. Theends of the weight y 45 areprovided with lribs v48 and 49 ywhereby the weight issupported so' as vto be held level upon the casing 33.

lt will be noted that Lthe brushes 37 vare set in thecasingso ,as to beerrangeddongitudinally parallel the direction of travel ofthe polisher over the surface of 'the floor, and also that the ,pivotal con- .nection of the handle 9 is arranged crosswise of the brushes and that therefore whenthe device is used upon the floor -v thep c )lishi ng is done longitudinally of the boards andthe brushes travel longitudinally parallelwith such boards,(andtherefore each brush gengages a board individually, so that if there is any depression orj crosswise warping of the board, the brush will enter *such` depression and contact directly lwith the surface to polish it.

lVhen the device is used for polishing i the floor, the Vfelt strips 13 Aare inverted so that the opposite or clean `edge engages Withthe oor.

"From this description it will be seen'that l have devised avery simplefloorzwaXiDg and polishing device which will readily engage the floor so vas to e polish its whole surfaceno matter vwhetherthe edges ofthe boardsare warped up so as torender the boards slightly convex transversely, or whether such floor surface'iseven.

l have also providedsnch `a device 'ploy which the waX may be evenly spread over the surfaceof the floor yso as to forma thin lilm prior to polishing. l Y

Itmay be also pointed ontthattlle VVG/.ight 45 is removable, the weight merely resting upon the top of the bodyof niy device. When my device is used for polishing the floor, l first Ause Vit without the until a certain amount of gloss is given tothe surface of the waxed floorto 4permitofthe polishing device slipping easilytherelover. When this'isydone, I thenplace the Weight llO on the ypolishing device Tvto complete "bythe Polishing PIOQGSS., ,giving the .fleet ,Surface a much higher gloss.

It will thus be seen that the labour involved is greatly decreased, as when the floor is freshly waxed it is very much harder to push the polishing device over the surface of the floor with the heavy weight thereon. Vhen the floor is partially polished, as above set forth, the waxer will move more easily over the surface, and therefore the weight can be added to complete the polishing process.

It may also be suggested that in some cases it may be advisable. to use the polishing device without the weight, when the person operating the polisher has not suffia cient strength to remove the heavy device,

and Without the weight slight pressure can be put on the handle in order to give the -Hoor the extra gloss.

That I claim as my invention is:

l. A floor waxer and ypolisher comprising a body having a central crosswise opening, a wax container supported in the opening so as to depend therethrough, means for feeding the wax from the container on to the floor, depending portions extending crosswise from the front and rear edge of the body and grooved longitudinally, and felt strips, one longitudinal edge of which extends into the groove and the other longitudinal edge bears upon the iioor surface holding the wax container clear of the floor.

2. In a device of the class described, a wax container having a slotted opening in the bottom extending through the end walls of the container, a perforated covering plate secured to the bottom of the container to extend over the slotted opening, and a perforated slide bar slidable within the slotted opening and adapted to extend alternately through one or other of the end walls of the container.

3. A floor waxer and polisher comprising a body having a central opening and depending groove portions extending from each end, felt strips inserted edgewise in each of such groove portions so as to bear upon the floor, a polishing member secured within the body between the aforesaid felt strips, and polishing brushes resiliently held within the body and extending between and at right angles to the aforesaid strips.

4. A flo-or waxer and polisher comprising a body having a central opening, felt strips extending transversely of the body and depending therefroni, a polishing member comprising a casing fitting Within the body between the felt strips, means extending through the central opening of the body for detachably securing the casing in position, and a ser-ies of individu-ally spring pressed brushes held within the casing and extending longitudinally between the strips.

5. In a device of the class described, a polishing member comprising a casing, a series of polishing brushes arranged parallelly within the casing, individual pressure springs for each brush, and means for detachably securing the brushes within the casing.

6. In a device of the class described, a polishing member comprising a rectangular casing having an inturned forward edged iiange, a series of parallel brushes, backing pieces of which are adapted to be supported by the aforesaid flange, and withdrawable means for supporting the opposite ends of the brush backing.

7. In a device of the class described, a polishing member comprising a casing having an inturned forward edge flange, a series of brushes, the backing pieces of which are arranged parallelly within the casing so as to be supported at one end upon the aforesaid flange, a groovedportion formed by the wall at the rear end of the casing, and a bar member slidable within said groove and having an outwardly projecting portion upon which the opposite ends of the .brush backings bear, and individual pressure springs bearing against the back of each brush.

JAMES WILLIAM WILLIS. 

